The Control Yuan yesterday impeached former secretary-general of the National Security Council (NSC) Chiou I-jen (邱義仁) and former foreign minister James Huang (黃志芳) over the Papua New Guinea diplomatic scandal, which saw the country defrauded of US$29.8 million by two brokers during an attempt to establish diplomatic ties with the Pacific island.
Control Yuan President Wang Chien-hsien joined the investigation into the case initially assigned to Control Yuan member Tu Shan-liang (杜善良), marking the first time in the watchdog’s history that the Control Yuan president had gotten involved in investigating alleged irregularities by civil servants.
Wang and Tu called for the impeachment of Chiou and Huang and a review committee composed of the other 11 Control Yuan members voted seven-to-three in favor of their suggestion.
At a press conference following the review, Wang said Chiou “went beyond his power [as NSC secretary-general]” to instruct Huang in diplomatic affairs and “failed to conduct strict background checks” into the two middlemen before introducing them to Huang.
In August 2006, Chiou commissioned Ching Chi-ju (金紀玖), a Singaporean businessman, to act as intermediary in the diplomatic task, and the foreign ministry then wired US$29.8 million into a bank account at a branch of OCBC Bank in Singapore set up by Ching and his friend Wu Shih-tsai (吳思材).
When the foreign ministry found out that Papua New Guinea had no intention of establishing diplomatic ties with Taiwan, it lost contact with the two brokers and the funds, which were intended for the Papua New Guinea government, went missing.
Wang said that Huang should have rejected the order from Chiou at the very beginning as the ministry’s East Asia and Pacific Affairs Department Director-General Donald Lee (李傳通) had told Huang that Ching and Wu were not reliable.
Meanwhile, the Control Yuan on Tuesday impeached Taitung County Commissioner Kuang Li-chen (鄺麗貞) over her alleged abuse of public funds for overseas trips, overturning the watchdog’s earlier decision last month not to impeach her.
Kuang drew widespread criticism for failing to cancel a 13-day trip to Europe ahead of a typhoon in July. She later was found to have spent millions of NT dollars in the previous two years on overseas trips and forging trip reports for her overseas travels.
The Control Yuan’s previous decision against the impeachment in a vote of six-to-four was tainted by speculation that several Control Yuan members were swayed by lobbying efforts.
Despite reversing its decision on Kuang, the Control Yuan yesterday came under more criticism for deciding not to announce the result of the case review.
Wang, defending the Control Yuan, said it was within the bylaws of the Control Yuan Act (監察法施行細則) for members to decide whether to announce the results of a review.
According to the bylaws, investigation results of cases with confidential information concerning diplomatic and military affairs are not disclosed in principle, while other cases can either be revealed or kept secret, depending on the decision of Control Yuan members reviewing the case.
Wang said whether the regulation is rational is open to discussion.
When asked for comment, a number of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators criticized the Control Yuan for deciding not to make public its decision to impeach Kuang.
KMT Legislator Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) said the Control Yuan’s decision would only fuel controversy since Kuang’s case was high-profile.
“Hiding the information will only damage the Control Yuan’s credibility,” KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS